


IV

by tcourtois



Series: Fork in the road [4]
Category: Football RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 09:02:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3723082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tcourtois/pseuds/tcourtois





	IV

I.

Ava

“You’ve been texting me all week about this. I think you’ve lost your mind.” I spokequietly into my phone as I reclined back on my bed, my legs were against thehead board, yet I was still in a comfortable position, a pillow propped belowmy head.

“I’m just being spontaneous. Christmas is over, now it’s time for New Year and a new start. This is it for us Ava.” Emma sounded excited on the other end of the phone to me. It was the first time in a while that I had heard my friend speak like this. She had been downtrodden for months as she went through her divorce, this for her was her light at the end of the tunnel.

“I’m being spontaneous. As soon as my lawyer’s office opened after the Christmas break, I filed for divorce. How’s that for spontaneous?” I could hear Emma make a gasping sound, and then she took a little while to respond to my revelation.

I hadn’t thought it through for very long, the whole divorce thing. What were we now? In this limbo, separated. I didn’t like that word.

It had taken me hours of crying and replaying the scene in my head to come to the conclusion that I would never be made a fool of again.

“You filed straight away? That was ballsy. It took me a month and a half to file for divorce. I kept thinking that he would apologise properly, fall to his knees and declare his undying love for me, he’d come home one day with a bunch of roses and we’d start again. Instead he spent more time at the office, avoided me completely and made out that he had done nothing wrong. That’s when I called my lawyer. But you know, this could be a good thing. You’ve made the first move in moving on with your life and that has got to feel freeing. You can do whatever you want now, the ball is in his court.” Emma was right, and as she talked me through what had happened in her marriage, I felt more sorry for her than ever, and if anything I began to understand why meeting Marcel and having an instant connection to him meant so much to her, it was the first time she had felt wanted.

“His lawyer should have the paperwork now, so he knows that I have filed.” I spoke quietly, not wanting my brother to overhear. Recently he had developed a bad habit of hovering beside my bedroom door trying to eaves drop on any of my conversations because he thought that I might be talking to Mats or about Mats. I once walked out of my room to find him folding laundry in the hallway, with nothing to lean against and nowhere to place the laundry basket, it was very odd.

“You should come with us. It will be fun I promise and I won’t do anything stupid. I’m taking things slow. The last thing I need is to fall head over heels for someone that could kick me while I’m already down.” Emma pleaded with me, I could tell how badly she wanted to get away with her, and honestly it was tempting, just leaving the house these days felt like an achievement.

“Theoretically if I said yes, what would happen?”

“I’m your boss so straight away I am extending your paid leave.” She laughed into the phone like a weight had been lifted from her chest and honestly it was the greatest sound I had ever heard.

“So Miami…here we come.”

Marco

“I hate you.” I smacked Marcel in the chest.

Robin laughed, nearly spilling his beer down the front of his shirt which was one he had borrowed from me years ago and never bothered to return.

“All I did was ask them to come. They’re both going through a hard time and they need to get away from this shit hole for a while. Plus, they’re gorgeous and who doesn’t want to go on vacation with two beautiful women?” he was grinning across the table at me, I found it hard to argue with his logic, yet I was still angry with him for asking them.

“What about me? You two have totally excluded me. There’s only two of them and three of us.” Robin whined. I could tell that although he whined in a joking manner that actually he was lonely and less than happy at the prospect of being dropped by his friends in favour of girls when he didn’t have one himself, such as had happened in the past.

“Maybe they have a third friend.” Marcel joked.

I shot him another angry stare.

“Oh come on. Are you worried that you’re not going to be able to control yourself around her when it’s just the five of us? You’ve wanted her for years, you controlled yourself then, because she was your captain’s wife. It sounds to me like she’s not going to be his wife for much longer, and is therefore no longer off limits. Stop beating yourself up for wanting her.” He took another sip of his beer, clearly tipsy. As I looked over at Marcel then though, he seemed to be so matter of fact about it all. Maybe he had a point.

“I just don’t want to push things with her so soon after what she’s been through.” I sighed, raising my own drink to my lips. I wished I had been drinking as much as Marcel had so that I felt a little lighter about the situation. “Robin, what do you think?”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in Miami obviously, but if something happens naturally between the two of you then I don’t see why you should fight it.” He shrugged.

Marcel pat him on the shoulder. “Well said mate, for example if Emma wants to be with me while we’re out there, I’m certainly not going to turn her away. I really like her, and sure she might technically be still married but she’s not still with her husband, she’s single in my eyes and I won’t be doing anything wrong by acting on my feelings.”

“It’s different for me though Marcel. Emma’s husband is just some faceless guy that none of us know. Ava is my captain, team mate and friend’s wife. Even if they do get a divorce and I’m not saying that they will because she probably still loves him and they could get back together, but if they do get divorced she will still always have been his first. I don’t know how I feel about that.” I sighed glumly, looking down at the table surface.

“Sure he’ll always be her first love, the first person she said ‘I do’ to, but he’ll always be the dick that cheated on her and left her humiliated too. You don’t have to be his friend anymore Marco, you don’t need to be loyal to someone that hurt someone you love. You just have to act professional around him, that’s all. This sort of thing happens in sports all the time, the guys just get on with the job on the field and then go home hating each other.” Marcel dug out his phone as he spoke. “I mean fuck, look what happened just before the World Cup to those two Belgians, you know the ginger one and the goal keeper. They’re not friends anymore but it didn’t stop Belgium from going pretty far.” He showed me the article about the rift between the two players.

“This feels like a choice. My friendship with Mats or a relationship with Ava that I don’t even have.” I shook my head, pushing Marcel’s arm away because I didn’t want to read anymore.

“Yet.” Marcel and Robin chorused.

“You two do not seriously think something is going to happen between us do you? It’s one sided.” I shook my head again, this time in disbelief.

“I don’t think you came on too strong, but she definitely responded.” Marcel said, Robin nodded in agreement and I put my head into my hands.

“This is a fantasy.”

“Just wait til Miami. I have some really cool things planned. Show her your personality, let her see what a good guy you are, how you would never do what Mats did to her and let her fall for you in her own time. If you’re there for her every step of the way then it’s likely to happen sooner or later, you just have to let her know that you’re there for her.” Marcel, now cracking open his fourth beer, was starting to make some sense.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and typed a quick text to her, just to let her know that I was thinking about her.

Hey Ava, haven’t heard from you since the other night. Just wanted to let you know that I’m glad you’re coming to Miami with us x

“Stop it, you’re wearing that stupid grin. She might not even text back. I’m not putting up with this for 10 days.” Marcel rolled his eyes at me.

“You told me to be here for her every step of the way. I was just telling her that I’m glad she’s coming to Miami.” I put my phone down and slid it across the table to Marcel.

“I’ll expect a call from Emma to cancel any second now then.” After that sentence he put on the worst impersonation of a girl’s voice as he acted out using the empty beer bottles on the table how Emma and Ava would react to us.

My phone then vibrated, and I stood half way out of my seat trying to wrestle it back from him, but he held me off.

“I stand corrected.” He laughed. “Looks like this is going to be a good trip after all.”

~

Ava

“I can’t believe that you have dragged me into this.” I sat on my suitcase as Emma zipped it up for me, maybe I had packed too many clothes but that was what I always did.

“Like I said, we need to have some fun and I don’t think we could have found a better or nicer group of people to spend our time with. You’ve known Marco for years, you know he’s going to take care of us out there. He won’t let you go home with any sleazy random guys.” She stuck her tongue out at me at the mention of sex. For the last few years I had only slept with one man. The thought of sleeping with someone else was a weird one.

“On second thought, you look like you need to get laid. Believe me I know that sleeping with only one man for years becomes boring. I’ve had much more exciting sex since I’ve been separated. You just get into those marriage ruts where sex is a chore you know? Roll on, roll off, turn the light off and go to sleep. I’ve been through it honey.” She helped me to pull my suitcase off of the bed onto the floor. My brother thought Emma was being a really good influence on me, finally getting me to go further than just to the grocery store, or to my lawyer’s office, but he didn’t know about that yet or about how Emma was leading me astray.

“Mats wasn’t really like that. Yes we got into a routine I guess of when we would have sex, but he still tried. He didn’t just get his fill and then forget about my needs.” I started to push my suitcase through the doorway and Emma followed close behind me.

“Taxi’s here!” Tom called up the stairs to us.

Emma let out an excited squeal and I had to shush her because she then erupted into a fit of giggles. Once she had calmed herself down she simply said “Well you are one of the fortunate ones.”

I let her go down the stairs first to where her case was waiting for her at the bottom before struggling to lift mine and carry it down. To my relief Tom hurried up to meet me and helped me to carry it otherwise I am sure I would have fallen down the stairs and that would be the end of my Miami adventure.

“Be safe girls. Emma, look after my baby sister.” He kissed us both goodbye, just a peck to each cheek, and gave me a hug, squeezing me for slightly longer than he had Emma.

“I’m going to be fine, I promise. I’m a big girl.” I spoke softly into his ear and he nodded. He understood that this was important for me.

I followed Emma outside then, and the cab driver picked up both cases with ease, making some joke about how much luggage women always seem to have. I got into the back and waved goodbye to Tom again as Emma slid into the seat beside me.

“Ready?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s just a vacation. I don’t know what you think is going to happen.”

“I have high hopes.”

~

Marco

We waited for the girls to arrive. We were at the airport hours early because Robin is one of those kinds of people that have to leave plenty of time for everything just in case a disaster happens. He was a bit like my mother and my sisters in that respect. I think that our group needed him. He was the anchor that kept me and Marcel firmly on the ground. He was one of the reasons I was planning on staying in Dortmund and signing a new contract. What would I do without him? Who would I call in the middle of the night when my power goes out and I don’t know how to reset the fuse? One of the other reasons was Ava.

When she walked into the terminal I felt my stomach drop. Had I been more confident I’d have approached her the way Marcel strode confidently over to Emma and brought her into his arms. They held each other for a few moments. Robin tried to avert his gaze but I was fixated. I wanted that. Why couldn’t Ava have been married to someone I didn’t know? Why couldn’t it just be simple?

“Hi.” She walked over to where me and Robin were standing, wheeling her case behind her.

“Is that heavy?” I asked.

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, it’s getting checked in soon.”

Robin gave me a look, and it was a look that said ‘stop trying too hard’.

“So, those two huh?” I looked over at Marcel and Emma. They seemed to be deep in conversation. Emma was looking at him in an adoring sort of way. I had to feel happy for him, he deserved to be happy just as much as anyone.

Ava covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. She looked over at them as well. “Has he been driving you two as crazy as she has been driving me? I’m glad this trip is happening now and that it wasn’t weeks away or I may have committed a murder.”

Common ground.

I could work with the ‘getting our friends together’ angle.

“He has, but honestly I want him to be happy. I’m sure you feel the same.” I smiled at her and she smiled back, looking at them, then she leant in close to me, pulling her case with her which she then perched on the end of, using it as a makeshift chair.

“You’re right, they should both be happy and we need to make sure that it happens for them both. Clearly there is a spark and we shouldn’t let it go out.” She pulled out one of those tourist guide books that are sold in every store. It had a yellow cover and had ‘Miami’ written in bold letters on the front.

“What are you doing?” I laughed.

“I’m trying to find somewhere romantic that we could accidentally send them. You know we could plan to go out for dinner one night as a group and then the three of us can pretend to be sick and stay in and order room service instead.” She was a genius, and a bit of a romantic. As she stared down at that silly travel guide she started rubbing her noise as if it were itchy, and as hard as it is to describe how one little action can be cute, it really was cute. She twitched her nose like she was a little rabbit.

Marcel and Emma decided to join us then, and leave their little bubble. I was slightly disappointed as Ava tucked the guide book away, but she gave me a little wink and then linked arms with me as she dragged her case along behind her. “Time to check in?” she asked.

Robin was in the middle. Emma had linked arms with Marcel, just as Ava had done with me, and he was just ahead of us leading the pack as we made our way to the check in desk. The one good thing about being so early was that there was hardly a queue. Robin said that had been his plan all along.

“I’d really appreciate having an aisle seat if you guys don’t mind. I get a bit claustrophobic, especially on long flights.” Robin smiled at the girls, this fact was something the rest of us already knew about him.

“No objections here.” Emma laughed, and Ava agreed that Robin could take one of the aisle seats. It was a big plane, and our five ticket allocation had us in a row of three, and two seats to the side of the three.

As soon as I passed my ticket I checked the seat letter. I was in seat ‘G’. A and B wouldn’t be ours, so three of the four others would have seats C, D and E and the person next to me would have ‘F’. I internally prayed that it would be Ava, but because I was beside the window with an aisle seat beside me, chances are I would have Robin beside me.

~

Waiting in departures had been surprisingly fun. We’d looked in every shop going, and bantered between us. Robin took a picture of me and Marcel wearing silly sunglasses that everyone insisted had to be posted on my Instagram.

“You look good in pineapples.” Had been Ava’s response.

Now as we boarded the plane my heart fluttered. I wasn’t a very good flier at the best of times and if I were to have a claustrophobic Robin next to me the journey would be even worse. I’d need to have a drink pretty soon after take-off.

Robin mumbled to himself as he looked for our row, even though there weren’t that many rows in our cabin. There were about six actually.

“Here we are.” He led us over.

“I’m C, so I’m this end of the three here.” Marcel said, sneaking a look at Emma’s ticket. “And it looks like this lovely young lady is next to me for the next 9 hours.” She shoved him into the seat. I looked at Ava.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“F.” she mumbled.

“Excuse me.” Robin said as he put his backpack into the overheard locker above Ava’s head. I took her hand and pulled her away from him. He then slid into the seat beside Emma.

“We’re F and G, away from the idiots over here.” I laughed. Then I looked back at her, wondering just what I was about to ask. “Did you want to sit by the window?”

She shook her head. “No we’re fine the way it is. I hope you don’t snore though.” She took a book and her iPod out of her bag, putting the rest in the locker above us, giving me a flash of her toned stomach as her top rode up when she reached into it.

“I have trouble sleeping on planes. I’m not a great flier.” I admitted. I looked out of the small window at the plane’s wings that were a little further back from me but still visible.

“It’s okay. I never used to be.” She sat down next to me, looking around the plane for a moment before she settled into her seat. “If you get scared you can hold my hand.”

 

II.

Mats

“Behave.” She’d said sternly to me, before pecking my cheek and giving Ava a fake smile over my shoulder, the last thing she said to me before getting into their taxi to the airport. I hugged my father goodbye tightly, but I could feel the disappointment in him as he let go, he gave me a sad smile. I guess he expected better of me.

I expected better of myself.

As the car drove away I jogged back to Ava.

“What should we do now that that’s over?” she laughed.

“I may have something planned.” I was letting none of the details of this surprise slip. I had planned for days how to make up for my mother imposing herself upon us for Christmas, in between casual trips to Cathy’s that was. If I tried to cool things with her and didn’t see her for a few days she would start to get angry and that’s when she would threaten to do things like turn up on our doorstep when she knows I’m away and tell Ava everything. I didn’t want to see Cathy often, but it was a necessity.

“You know I have to go and get groceries now because she ate us out of house and home but when I get home we can do whatever you had planned.” She took my car keys out of my pocket, kissing my cheeks swiftly before picking up her bag from beside the door and walking to my car.

“I hoped you’d say that because I have things to prepare here.”

She rolled her eyes at me as she looked over her shoulder, unlocking the car. “right.”

~

I was absolutely terrible at wrapping things. I had a box and a bow. The bow I had no idea what to do with, but I was relieved to find that it was one of those that she just peeled the back off of and stuck on, even I couldn’t make a mess of that. I kept checking the time to see how long she had been gone for.

As I folded the gift carefully and placed it in the box my phone began ringing. I dug it out of my pocket and held it up to my ear without checking the caller ID first.

“Where are you?”

I nearly groaned at the sound of her voice but that would only make her angry and I had no time for an angry Cathy today. Even on her good days she was difficult to tolerate.

“I’m at home…why, where should I be? I asked. I was a little confused. I had made no plans with her for the evening and I was really involved in what I had planned to surprise Ava with. I wouldn’t let her spoil it for me.

“I haven’t seen you for a little while. Please come and see me today.” She had that whiny tone of voice on. She knew that we had seen each other recently. I didn’t know how one person could be so needy, surely she wasn’t normally like this. Was she like this with her friends and family, always calling?

“I don’t know if I can today. My parents only just left and there’s a lot of clearing up to do here. I can’t leave it all to Ava.” I sighed, running a hand through my hair. She really couldn’t demand this of me today.

“Why the fuck not Mats? Why do you have to always put her before me?” she sounded like a child. She was always like this when things didn’t go her way. It made me want to hang up. I was a little afraid that if I did she would show up here. If she did that I could always lock her in the garage.

“I’m just being fair. I don’t think that I have time to come round tonight but maybe if I do have time I will drop by. I’ll try to, I’ll try to do that.” I bit my tongue as I made the promise, trying not to sigh audibly. When would I have time to go to Cathy’s? Probably not at all.

“I look forward to seeing you later then.” She chirped.

“See you later.” I said softly before hanging up. I had placated her and that was all that mattered. That and getting everything set up for Ava.

I put the box in the middle of our bed, straightening up the pillows against the headboard too just because I wanted everything to look right. I’d bought one of those bags of rose petals that you can get from flower shops and I’d hidden it in my sock drawer. I hoped as I retrieved it that my socks now smelt a little better than just the standard fabric softener that we used.

I trailed petals around the box in a heart, laughing a little to myself at what I was doing. I would be the butt of all jokes at training if any of my teammates heard about this. We liked to joke about who was the most girly and romantic and right now it was definitely me, usually it was Ilkay who would come in and tell us what spontaneous surprise he had given Sila, which was almost a weekly occurrence.

I then trailed petals from the bottom tip of the heart, off the bed and onto the floor, leaving a line from the bed into our bathroom, and to the bath. When I was done I lit some of the smaller tea light candles around the bath, making sure that they were the jelly bean scented ones that Ava liked best, and then closed the blinds so that it was dark and lit only by the lights.

I decided against running the bath just in case she was a while longer because the water would only get cold.

As I had that thought I heard the sound of my car’s wheels against the gravel driveway. I walked back into the bedroom and over to the window to check that it was my car and no one else. I hid the rest of the rose packet back in my sock drawer and ran downstairs to help with the groceries.

~

Ava

“You look very suspect. You better not have made any mess.” I laughed as I carried some of the bags inside. He shrugged and took them from me, a giant grin plastered across his face. “What have you done?” I laughed.

“You’ll see.” He leant in and pressed a kiss to my lips before walking into the kitchen. I followed him with the last of the bags. He seemed to be really happy, happier than he had been for the last few days. Having his parents here must have been hard work for him too, I sometimes forgot that they wore him down too. There was constant talk of what he should do next, how he should progress and push himself but he didn’t want any of those things, he was happy with the way things were, where we were. When his mother mentioned that he transfer last night his eyes nearly popped out of his head and I had to grab his hand under the table.

“You’re a very good husband you know. You don’t have to prove yourself to me with romantic gestures.” I wrapped my arms around him from behind as he unpacked some of the vegetables, placing them on the counter top. I nuzzled my nose against his neck and pressed a kiss there. “I’m not Sila. I don’t want to be photographed in the best restaurants in Dortmund every week. I’d be happy to just slob with you.”

“I know.” He said, turning around to face me. “Doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve romantic gestures.” He brushed some of my hair back from my face and tipped my chin up, before kissing me softly. “And you are going to love what I have done because I don’t feel that it’s too much.” He went back to carefully transferring the vegetables into their drawer in the fridge until we were finished unloading everything.

“I am really intrigued now. When do I get this surprise?” I leant against the counter.

“Well part of it is upstairs, and you can go up there now. I’ll see you later, baby.” He laughed.

“Where are you going?!”

“Just trust me.” He grabbed my hand and led me to the foot of the stairs, encouraging me to go up. “Go on, it’s in our room.”

I jogged upstairs, my curiosity getting the better of me. I was sure that I’d heard the click of the front door as I reached the top but I didn’t look back to check. I walked into our bedroom. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting for there to be petals everywhere that he had arranged into a lopsided rose, with a large white box in the middle.

I went straight for the box, sitting on the edge of the bed as I pulled the lid off. Inside was a dress. I was shocked, Mats had never bought me clothes before, and this was an expensive one by the look of it. I felt guilty for a moment because it wasn’t one that I would buy for myself, never willing to spend high figures on something that I may only wear once, but it was so beautiful. It was white, with long sleeves and it looked like it would go to just above my knees. The front of it was made up of thick black lace that I was sure would show off my breasts if worn with the right bra.

I lay the dress out, smoothing the material to stop it creasing and read the card then was inside with it.

Bathroom

I realised then that the petals were leading in the same direction. On first look I thought he’d just gotten carried away and scattered them everywhere. I followed the trail eagerly.

When I opened the door the scent of the candles hit me straight away. They were apple jelly bean scented ones that he’d laughed at me for buying, but they smelt amazing. He had lit them all around the tub, and propped up between my favourite body scrub and my shampoo was another card.

Soak and enjoy, then put that dress on. The address of where I’ll meet you is on the door.

I covered my mouth in disbelief. I couldn’t believe that he’d gone to so much effort, and this was just the beginning of it.

I ran myself a bath and wondered to myself where he would be taking me as I soaked in the bubbles. I was tempted to reach for my phone and text him. I would plead and beg to find out but I was sure that if he’d gone to so much trouble he wouldn’t ruin any part of it for me.

I decided not to spend too much time in the bath. Once I felt clean and refreshed I stepped out and towel dried myself and my hair, letting it fall around my shoulders in loose curls. I padded around the bedroom for a little while, looking at that dress, then dug around in my underwear drawer until I found an underwear set that Emma had bought me for my anniversary a few years ago as a joke present. When I went back to work after the New Year I would tell her how useful a gift it had been as the black lace went perfectly with the lace on the front of the dress.

I checked my phone regularly just in case I was taking too long and Mats was waiting for me, but didn’t rush myself getting ready. When I finally was ready I skipped downstairs in excitement, and as I put my shoes on, I read the next card which was as promised, taped to the door.

~

Mats

I’d left her the car, and gotten a cab straight to Cathy’s. If she wanted to see me tonight it would have to be in the time it took Ava to have her bath and get ready for our date.

I was quick with Cathy. It was a messy fumble, on her couch and left me feeling pretty empty inside.

I then took another cab across town to Jonas’. He wasn’t often in town but when he was, he was happy to lend a hand. I showered there and made myself look presentable again. He asked no questions because I’d filled him in earlier in the day on what I had planned. All he had to say was “What brought this on?”

He was right that I’d never done anything of this scale before, but I had time off from the Bundesliga and I didn’t plan on wasting it in Dortmund.

Cathy had taken the fact that I wouldn’t see her for a few days well. She has grumbled a little but I promised that when I saw her again I would make it special and it would be worth the wait, she perked up then.

“You look like you’re about to propose. If you weren’t already married I’d guess that was what this was all about. You’re not transferring are you and trying to soften her up for a move to Spain or something?” he joked.

“Very funny brother!” I gave him a quick hug and thanked him for letting me use his shower before I left to take yet another cab, to the address that I had given Ava. I’d even tried out the address on the sat nav in my car earlier to ensure that she would get there with no problems.

But of course, I was there before her. I was surprised because she didn’t usually take that long to get ready. I was glad that she had actually taken the time to herself, what with her job and the stresses that came with being the wife of someone famous, she didn’t really get time to herself often. I regretted that I put her under so much strain.

I heard the car before I saw it. She parked a little far away from me because she was unsure of where she was. I rushed out to the front of the building to meet her and opened the door for her.

“Well hello husband of mine.” She laughed, she slid her arms around my neck and kissed me. I wound my arms around her waist and kissed her back, my stomach doing somersaults. She pulled back from the kiss after a few moments. “You seem nervous…”

“This was just a lot of work to pull off…” I laughed, trying to ease my own nerves.

“Ah so that explains why you’ve been so secretive in the last few days. Was your mother in on this? I saw you two whispering to each other.” She smiled as she spoke, thinking she’d got us both sussed.

My heart sank. If she knew what we’d really been whispering about she would probably never speak to or touch me again. Not even a gesture like this would win her back.

“You caught me.” I took her hand and guided her to the building, but just as we got to the door I guided her around it instead.

“Ok now I really don’t know what’s going on. You’re a bit of a mystery sometimes. Just as I think I know all there is to know about you, you pull off something like this.” She squeezed my hand gently.

“Do you like the dress? I wasn’t sure…I know it’s not something that you’d get for yourself but I wanted to spoil you. Plus it makes your boobs like amazing.” She grinned back at me, biting the edge of her bottom lip.

“I love the dress, and you look very handsome in that suit.”

“I should do. I stole it from my Hugo Boss campaign.” She laughed at that, covering her mouth with her free hand. I liked that she did that a lot when she laughed, it was really cute.

“So what is this?” she asked just as we rounded the corner. It was dark and so she clung to me tightly. I knew where I was going purely because I had been a few times when I setting things up. When we got out onto the airfield she let out a tiny squeal. “Is that a helicopter Mats Hummels?”

“It might be, and maybe we’re not staying in Dortmund tonight for our date.” I lead her up to the helicopter and introduced her to our pilot. I’d already relayed to him all of the details so that he wouldn’t let anything slip to her during take-off or landing. He said that he would only say to the tower what he needed to, to ensure our safety and wouldn’t give away our location or planned destination until we got there.

“You’re not going to tell me where we’re going though are you?”

She knew me well.

Our pilot put a finger over his lips and she shook her head, letting out a little laugh.

“You know me. I like to maintain the element of surprise. Now Mrs Hummels, your carriage awaits.” I helped her into her seat, there were a few small steps that I wasn’t sure she would manage in her heels so I gave her a helping hand by lifting her by her hips into it.

“No one could ever compare to you.” She leant into me as I got comfortable in my seat and buckled myself in. I put my arm around her as she rest her head against the crook of my neck.

“I’m glad you think of me that way, but I am nowhere near perfect and never will be.” I shook my head, looking down at her. “You on the other hand…”

There was a small clear screen that separated us from the pilot. He was flicking various switches and preparing for take-off when the doors on either side of us slid shut.

Ava took my hand, looking out of the window.

“This is really exciting. I’ve never been in one of these before.”

I loved the excitement on her face which only grew when we took off and started to fly high up over the city.

It was lit and honestly, Dortmund at night was a stunning sight. We looked out of the window on Ava’s side, pointing out various landmarks to each other.

“There’s Signal Iduna.” I pointed.

“Oh yes, your second home.” She looked down at it with a smile.

I’d never leave Dortmund as long as she smiled at the stadium like that.

Soon Dortmund got even smaller beneath us and we flew away from the city.

“We’re going to be in here for a little while, so I hope that you’re comfortable.” I said quietly. I had been trying not to drop any clues whatsoever because she was so intelligent that I was sure she would suss where I was taking her, but so far, as she furrowed her brow in concentration and tried to figure it out, she hadn’t guessed.

“I will figure it out…” she said in determination.

“I’m counting on that, love.”


End file.
